Volunteers at Cup might get sweet benefit

Carol O'Connor, a Mount Pleasant resident and long-time Family Circle Cup volunteer, flips through one of her many tennis photo albums. STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER HEFFERNAN

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O'Connor's favorite experience with a famous tennis player came with Justine Henin at a previous Family Circle Cup. She's standing next to a sign honoring each year's winners and holding a picture she took of Henin.

Stories about grandmothers are generally awesome. Maybe it's their attempts to use Twitter or the difference between their high school clothes and those of a typical 16 year old today.

“I like baking and giving out chocolate chip cookies and telling corny jokes,” the 78 year old said, flipping through about a dozen photo albums from decades of U.S. Open tennis tournaments and Family Circle Cup events.

Since the Family Circle Cup has arrived in Daniel Island from Hilton Head in 2001, O'Connor has volunteered during the prestigious tournament every year. She's also attended the U.S. Open every year since 1975 with only three exceptions.

As you might expect, some professional athletes are especially grateful, while others don't seem to notice. O'Connnor's personal favorite was Justine Henin, a former No. 1 ranked women's player in the world.

“One of my biggest thrills was Justine Henin because I got to know her,” O'Connor said. “She said hello to me and gave me a hug. Here I was hugged by No. 1 in the world.”

Henin won the Cup title in 2003 and 2005. She earned a sizeable trophy and paycheck – this year's purse is $750,000 – and she got some extra sweets from the tournament's unofficial grandmother.

Before the Belgian phenom played a match, she told O'Connor, who bakes more than 600 cookies to privately disperse throughout the week, to bring her a bag of the chocolate chip variety after she finished playing. O'Connor happily obliged and met her as she was being driven back to the player's lounge in a golf cart.

Henin asked O'Connor to hop in the cart with her. O'Connor said she was reluctant because that wasn't allowed of volunteers, but adhering to player requests is one of the ultimate goals.

Henin retired in 2011 due to an extensive elbow injury, so O'Connor will quietly root for Christina McHale this year, because they're both from New Jersey. Although McHale isn't favored, being under the watchful eye of O'Connor has a potentially sweet benefit.

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